Country/Southern Fried Chicken

Southern fried chicken is often referred to as country fried chicken. But no matter how you label it, these easy recipes for Southern fried chicken hit the spot on seasonings, ranging from spicy to crunchy to peppery.

These chicken pieces marinated in buttermilk and hot pepper sauce, then coated in seasoned flour and fried, creates the crispiest and juiciest fried chicken dinner ever. Your family will love this meal!

Why would you want to know how to make chicken fried steak (also know as country fried steak)? First, almost everything is more delicious when it's fried, but more importantly, this is a great trick for making a tough piece of beef more tender and flavorful. Where does the "chicken" part come in? The name nods to both the herb coating that the meat is dredged in (made with flour or breadcrumbs) -- similar to the batter used for fried chicken -- and the fact that it's fried to golden brown, just like chicken. The dish is usually made with round steak (also known as cube steak once it's been tenderized by a butcher).

If you're looking for the secret to perfect fried chicken, the kind that you might only make once a year but that you construct an entire backyard summer celebration around (because homemade fried chicken is just that good), then it seems there's one direction to look, and that's South. So I checked in with some bona fide Southern cooks (some famous, some not) to get their take on the classic. First off, the one thing that every chef, no matter what part of the South they're from, agrees on is that you must, must, must marinate your chicken in buttermilk for at least a few hours or, preferably, overnight.

Old-time Southern grandmas sure knew how to make cornbread dressing -- a rich and tasty side dish, with a delightfully light and fluffy texture. The perfect accompaniment to roast chicken and turkey, once upon a time cornbread dressing was as crucial to the Thanksgiving feast as the turkey. Today it isn't reserved only for holidays -- it's the perfect casserole for company dinners, special roasts or buffets.

Sure, breakfast for dinner has always been an IHOP staple, but at your favorite five-star bistro? Waffles for dinner may sound like it's just one step above pouring yourself a p.m. bowl of Cheerios, but as the Today show reports, gourmet chefs around the country are dishing up waffles topped with everything from soft shell crab to chicken liver (yes, chicken liver) and adding the likes of beer, squash and Old Bay seasoning to the batter.

With all due respect to a certain goateed colonel, as well as a nod to Olive Oyl's better half, fried chicken is just better when you fry it up yourself. The breading piled on at your favorite takeout fried-chicken joint is just too much of a good thing, and also too much of things you'd probably like to cut down on, namely salt and fat. OK, we admit to having a soft spot for the occasional bucket of the stuff, but the money we save by firing up our own fryer is all the incentive we need to opt for home cooking.

If you happen to be in Southern California this summer, you can get your hands on the latest of what seems to be a never-ending parade of gut-busting American "culinary" innovations: the Krispy Kreme sloppy joe. Do we even have to explain what it is? Take your basic sloppy sloppy joe mix and stuff it between two halves of a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

We Americans like our servings big, fatty, and over-the-top from time to time. See: Paula Deen's donut hamburger, the Jack in the Box bacon milkshake, or pretty much any variety of cheese-drenched french fries. But food and drink blog The Daily Meal points out that the United States isn't the only country that offers several days worth of calories in a single portion.

In a fast-food first, Subway this week rolled out two new sandwiches that it hopes will be hot (for more than just their flavor): the Sriracha Chicken Melt and Sriracha Steak Melt. Not so long ago, most Americans didn't even know what sriracha was, let alone how to pronounce it. But the traditional Thai condiment, with its spicy blend of jalapenos, vinegar and plenty of garlic, has quickly become the new "it" ingredient of the moment, popping up on high-end restaurant menus across the country and inspiring a devoted, cult-like following.